It's close to crunch time for Spaulding and Dover

Friday

Sep 14, 2012 at 3:15 AM

By John Doylejdoyle@fosters.comTwitter: @JohnDoyle603

DOVER — The Spaulding High School football team has played its first two games of the season at home. Even though the Red Raiders are hitting the road tonight at Dover, first-year head coach Claude Gagnon expects plenty of Spaulding fans to make the short trip down Route 16 for the 7 p.m. kickoff.

"I know Spaulding football fans travel well," said Gagnon. "There's going to be a sea of red on one side and a sea of green on another."

That was the case last November when the two clubs met at Dunaway Field in the Division II semifinals, when Cam Rewucki's 29-yard field goal as time expired sent the Green Wave to the championship game.

Much less is at stake tonight. It's early in the season, but both teams are searching for their first win. Spaulding (0-2, 0-1 in D-II) is trying to avoid falling into an 0-2 hole to start conference play. Dover (0-2) is playing its D-II opener.

Dover leads the all-time series 64-44-8 and has won 11 of the last 12 meetings, including the last six. Spaulding's last win over the Green Wave was Oct. 6, 2006, when it won 14-7.

Green Wave coach Ken Osbon said his team is trying not to get too caught up in the rivalry aspect of tonight's game.

"I think that if we worry about us, we won't get so wrapped up in what's going on with the rivalry," Osbon said. "We're just trying to deal with the things we're doing wrong in games. We have to do a better job with the procedure situations."

Spaulding is coming off an excruciating, 22-21 last-minute home loss to Timberlane. Leading by 12 points with five minutes to go last Friday night at home against Timberlane, the Red Raiders saw it slip away when the Owls scored the game-winning touchdown with 45.7 seconds left.

Making matters worse for Spaulding, senior defensive back Nadthapong "Bank" Wutisen went down on the Owls' final scoring drive and was taken off the field in an ambulance after lying motionless for a tension-filled, 25-minute delay. Wutisen was released from the hospital but will not play tonight for the Red Raiders.

Gagnon said his team has gotten over last week's loss and is focused on Dover.

"Last Friday was last Friday," Gagnon said. "The kids understand we can't let that happen again. We can't worry about last week at this point."

Dover has lost a pair of nonconference games, and tonight is the first of eight straight D-II contests. Offensively, the Green Wave struggled mightily against a pair of top-tier opponents — defending Division I champion Exeter and King Philip, a playoff team last year in Massachusetts. Neither of Dover's top running backs — seniors Colin Shaughnessy and Kyle Seawards — were able to break free in the first two games.

Shaughnessy amassed just 56 yards rushing combined and Seawards didn't play in the second half against King Philip after a first-half injury. However, Seawards returned a kickoff 83 yards for a touchdown in the first half against King Philip.

Junior quarterback Derek Stegman threw for 120 yards against Exeter but was held to just 55 on 6-for-18 passing with a pair of picks against King Philip.

Osbon said the biggest challenge for his team is dealing with Spaulding's size and deeper roster.

"We're dealing with a depth issue, and that gives them an advantage because they have more bodies than we do," he said. "We're a little banged up, but mostly it's the size issue we're dealing with."

Spaulding has shown an ability to move the ball with senior running back Trey Scott getting most of the carries. Scott has run for 158 yards and two touchdowns in the Red Raiders' first two games, while senior quarterback Sam Ouellette is just 4 for 17 passing.

"They're very good on both sides of the ball," Gagnon said about Dover. "Offensively, they have a lot of movement and some great skill kids. Defensively, they're physical up front."

Arguably, tonight's game means slightly more to Spaulding. Not only are the Red Raiders eager to avenge last year's playoff loss, but a defeat at the hands of Dover would put them in an 0-2 hole to start conference play. Not that a loss would be devastating — last year, Spaulding lost its first four games of the season, including three straight in D-II, won its next five games and came within a hair of reaching the final.

"They're excited," Gagnon said about his team. "We're just trying to keep that excitement bottled up as long as we can, keep them even keeled. Then, when it's time, they'll unleash it."

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In Division III tonight, one team will get its first league win of the season when Portsmouth (1-1 overall) makes the trip to Peterborough to face ConVal (1-1 overall) in Division III. The same is true In Division IV as Kingswood hosts Lebanon in a battle of 0-2 teams. In Division V, Epping-Newmarket (0-1) travels to Pelham (1-1). In Western Maine Class A, Noble visits Sanford in a battle of 1-1 teams and in Western Maine Class B, Marshwood (2-0) hosts Falmouth (0-2). All of tonight's action starts at 7.

On Saturday, St. Thomas (2-0) looks to extend its 13-game winning streak when it hosts Laconia (0-2) in D-IV. Somersworth (2-0) looks to stay atop the D-V standings when it visits Bow (0-2). Farmington-Nute (1-1) will try to rebound from its first loss of the season when it hosts Newfound (2-0) in Division VI. In the Pine Tree State, Traip hosts Freeport in a key Western Maine Class C matchup. Both teams are 2-0. All of Saturday's action kicks off at 1:30.

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